Museum of Chincoteague Island to close deal on Beebe Ranch purchase
CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. – After eight weeks of frantic fundraising, the Museum of Chincoteague Island says we can consider the Beebe Ranch saved.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
“For a lot of people, there probably was concern that we weren’t going to be successful, because we did have such a short amount of time to raise the funds,” said Museum of Chincoteague Island (the Museum) Executive Director, Cindy Faith. “We have signed a contract. The closing will be on June 30th . So, we are going to continue the fundraising. If we are lucky enough, we will have all the funds we need by that date. If not, we will continue plugging away at fundraisers. We have several other things to do in mind, ourselves.”
In addition to a concrete signing date, the Museum is also getting a huge helping hand from philanthropist, David Landsberger. He has agreed to match $100,000 in donations.
“We believed in it.”
Faith says this new development in the effort to save the Beebe Ranch isn’t just a win for the Museum; it was the ultimate dream of the Beebe family to see the property preserved.
“They were approached by several developers after the fact, after we had these conversations, and one of them offered hundreds of thousands of dollars more than what we had agreed on. But, they said no,” said Faith. “That is amazing. In this time, for somebody to give you their word, and it really is their word and stick to it – I just have the greatest respect for that family.”
Eight weeks ago when 47 ABC WMDT visited the Beebe Ranch, the call for help to save it was just beginning.
“There were plenty of people who said ‘You’re never going to make enough money. Nobody can raise $200,000 for anything. You’re setting yourselves up for failure.’ But, we believed in it,” said Faith. “If we don’t try, we’ll never forgive ourselves. This is our one chance to do something. We need to make this happen. So, we all went in with great adrenaline and belief that this would happen.”
Faith says the influx of support from around the world since then has been overwhelming.
“I’m amazed at the love and the energy that we are getting,” said Faith. “The letters we’re getting in the mail are amazing. People have sent in, sometimes very small checks, sometimes big. But, they all come with this incredible story of how Misty of Chincoteague changed their lives.”
Looking Ahead
Down the road, Faith says improvements are planed for the property, while keeping its historic charm in place.
“We don’t want to change the feel of the property. We want to keep it mostly pasture land. There is an inkling of an idea of adding a walking trail in the back of the property,” said Faith.
Another idea, is to rebuild the barn that used to sit on the property. It burned down in 2019. Faith says the newly constructed building could be larger, and include educational space.
“We’ve promised to the Beebe family that the Misty descendants can stay there on the property. They need a proper place to live. So, we do want to rebuild the barn,” said Faith. “That is something down the road. This year, it’s just buy the property, maintain it, take care of it, secure it, and then next year we can talk about all the wonderful things to get folks to come out to the ranch, and kind of relive the whole story of Misty.”
Help Out
While they’ve cleared a major hurdle, the Museum still needs your help. Click here to donate.
“We are getting letters from folks all around the country, other countries,” said Faith. “I knew we were doing something that we thought was locally very important. But, I have been enlightened. It is important to people – hundreds of thousands of people all over the country.”
